Hesitant Lovers in a Triangle [Kiri x Baku x Deku]

[NicTheDjinn]

The two toned teen listened on as his best friend grew excited by his suggestion, so much so that he was quick to end the conversation on the spot to put it into action. Well, he was glad that had worked out, at least. That's good. He'd have to ask how it went tomorrow morning, but for now, it was time to sleep. He pulled the phone out from under his cheek and set it next to the futon again. "Goodnight, Midoriya, and good luck..." He murmured into his room, even though no one would hear it. He liked to think the intention was what mattered. With that, he closed his mismatched eyes and contently drifted off to sleep again.

...

And so Eijirou pushed forward with his reply and each word cut deep into him. This was all his fault. He'd hurt the guy that had saved him from himself in a way literally no one else had any chance of doing. Kirishima, the sweet boy who time and again had proven himself a man in both bravery and determination was... He was admitting defeat. He was giving up. But... Wasn't that a good thing? He was already with Midoriya, the greenette was waiting in his bedroom at this very moment! He couldn't just break up with him just because his old crush had feelings for him. What's more, he honestly loved the freckled teen, he couldn't bring himself to leave him! Even the thought hurt. Still... If only he'd...

"This is all my fault..." He whispered, more to himself, even if it wouldn't be hard to be overheard from this distance. "If I wasn't such a coward and had just said something... I thought you felt that way and never had the balls to confront you about it and now..." And now he was in a healthy relationship with a boy that should have never forgiven him and that he certainly didn't deserve. His lips parted to speak again only for the sound to die on his tongue before any words could leave him, his phone chiming with Midoriya's text-sound.

He frowned, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Surely he would realize he was probably talking to Kirishima by now. Why would he interrupt something like that? Did his anxiety get the better of him again? Even as he pulled the phone out, it chimed a couple more times before he'd unlocked the screen to look at the string of extremely short messages. It felt like his life was draining out of him like the color he could feel leaving his already pale skin. The tears he'd been holding back came then, trickling silently down his cheeks. When he finally found his voice, he sounded distinctly numb.

"Deku says... He says we need to talk. Now. He wants you there." When he'd managed to force out those words, he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Ei..." He didn't even notice he'd habitually switched back to the familiar shortening of his name. "He said he talked with Half and Half... I think... I think he's breaking up with me so I can get with you. I... Fuck, I... I have feelings for you, I do, but... I don't want to break--" He voice cracked and he stopped trying to speak. Instead, he looked over to the elevator, hesitated, then forced himself to move towards it. He looked back to make sure he was being followed before pressing the call button.

Once he was inside, he started to rub his eyes, trying to get the tears to stop. He couldn't cry in front of Izuku, not with what was about to happen. It would be shitty to make him feel guilty for breaking up with him, even if it was killing him inside. It hurt so much, but if their relationship was this fragile, maybe it was for the better... He'd been working so hard to self-improve so that they could work though! Why...? Why was he never good enough...?

[cryptidchalupa]

There were very few times in his life where he had experienced anything close to true, unbridled anger. Enough that he could still count on one hand alone.

Hearing Katsuki's phone ping after he spoke was added to the list, even if the type of anger was different. It was a tired, hot burst in his stomach but he gave no reaction to it. What was the point? It gave way to the dull ache again almost immediately anyway, just making the gaping void a little more... well. There. At least until pure confusion hit him. Why would Izuku want him to be there to see some private conversation like that. He wasn't a sadist, neither of them were. Hell he couldn't even feel happy about the confession if it meant something like that would happen instead.

Worry hit him like a freight train, and he hesitated too long before reacting to the obvious hurt written all over Katsuki's entire being. Only reaching for him when he had started to move towards the elevator, and dropping the arm to follow him. He didn't... want to. This was bad enough as it was. But certainly Izuku wasn't out to ruin his own relationship right? They were happy, weren't they? Kirishima would blame himself and his lapse in judgement if it really went south like it seemed. Never, ever live it down. How could he, if he knew damn well he played a part in it?

Inside the elevator was no different, just as stifling and tense. More so with Katsuki so visibly upset. He hesitated again, worse this time, but the enclosed space was just enough of an overbearing weight to get him to actually reach out for him properly. It was stiff, his heart beating against his rib cage like he was about to get caught doing something very bad, but it was damn well near second nature to at least try to comfort him. Even if his heart was heavy and he was hurting. He didn't want Katsuki hurting too.... He meant to only place his hand to his friend's shoulder, but practiced, reflexive, his palm slid across the back of his shoulders to soothe at him.

"Kats I'm sure it's not like that." There's no way and he wouldn't fully believe it unless he saw it unfold before him. Izuku wasn't the type, right? He probably just wanted to make sure their friendship wasn't going to suffer from this... and it would on some level, he couldn't take back any of the words, couldn't un-hurt how he felt. But Bakugou was very important to him, and--and it was still sinking in that he had feelings to return. That made his stomach roll with a mixed bag of emotions. It didn't feel like the small victory it really was. It made his mouth go sour again. It wasn't worth it to hear if it meant that they would break up. That wasn't what he wanted. He just... he had been hopeful sure, but really he just needed to open up and release his feelings out into the air. He had to confess, and he had. And it ruined everything. Idiot..

The trip back to the other's dorm was heavy, he felt kind of like wading in water when the elevator let them free and they were in their dorm hall.. He could see the door... and kind of wanted to book it back to the safety of Mina's dorm with her. He didn't even want to be near this wing. He'd ask to move if this was going where it felt like it was going. Switch with someone else. Anything.

[LovelyBones]

When Izuku heard the tell tale ding of the elevator arriving on his floor, Izuku perked up, and headed to his door, a nervous, but hopeful smile on his face. "K-Kaachan, Kirishima, th-thank goodness...." he trailed off, only to see Katsuki clearly upset, and Eijiro looking like he may vomit from the tense air that began to form about them. "Sh-shit-- I promise it isn't a bad talk!! I'm sorry, I should have explained!!" He stepped out to take one of Katsuki's hands, but also one of Eijiro's as well, before bringing them both into the privacy of the blonde's room.

He gently pulled both to sit on the bed, before giving them both a nervous smile once more, whilst worrying at his hands. "So, I-I think I found a solution to th-this dilemma, a-and it shouldn't leave anyone hurt, either!!" He began, looking between both young men with hopeful eyes. "T-Todoroki brought up the idea of polyamory-- wh-where we can both share Kaachan, and w-we won't have to compete for attention!! I-I want to give this a try-- see if this could work, for all three of us?" He asked, looking between the young men once more, his heart racing in his chest.

"I.... I want a happy ending for all of us, and this feels like the best thing!!" Izuku then carefully took each of their hands in his own, before looking to Kirishima with soft eyes. "Would you be okay with sharing Kaachan?" He asked, then looked the blonde he loved, "Are you okay being shared between us, Kaachan?" He asked then, hoping he was going about this right. He would have done better if he had more time, but.... this was a rare circumstance, for sure, especially with the inopportune timing.

[NicTheDjinn]

It hurt... It hurt so bad, but he couldn't just force him to stay if he didn't want to. Did Deku not want to? Was he that easy to just throw away? Sure, they'd had their rocky moments, times where they came so close to falling apart, but they'd worked through it each time and with each new success, it had gotten better. They'd learned each other more and more, grown as people, and stabilized their relationship. Outside of mock bullying they rarely ever argued anymore. Wait. It... It was mock bullying, right? Midoriya knew he was only teasing now and didn't mean anything by it, didn't he?

Fuck! What if that was it?! What if what he'd been sure was just a game wasn't a game for them both? Sure the bullying was tame now in comparison and Izuku commonly quipped right back at him, but what if he thought it was real and was actually trying to defend himself? Fuck! That couldn't be it! It couldn't be! He didn't mean any of those insults, it was just... J-just a game... Had he ruined everything? Was he unintentionally abusing his boyfriend and it wasn't worth the effort anymore, Kirishima's perceived feelings not the root cause, but the catalyst? He was so stupid!! How hadn't he noticed he was actually hurting him?! Izuku had to be the most patient man on the planet, how had he pushed him so far as to break it off? Fucking hell, why did he have to be such a toxic piece of sh---He was snapped out of his thoughts when a warm, familiar hand came to rest on his shoulder only to soothingly run back and down.

He removed his hands from his eyes, looking over at his best friend, looking so uncharacteristically hopeless, hurt, and lost. Bakugou was rarely ever any of those things, much less all three at once. "Ei... Th... Thank you..." He looked away again, ducking his head. He stepped a bit closer to take comfort in their proximity alone, one arm coming up to hug himself while the other reached over the opposite shoulder to lightly rest on what he could reach of the hand there. It had always been hard for him to seek comfort, particularly when he was ripping into himself.

Then the elevator dinged and they were both forced to face reality again. With a sigh, he pulled away from the comforting touch and approached his dorm door, hesitating for a moment. He started to take deep, steadying breaths, but before he could bring himself to open the door, it opened from the inside and there was Izuku. It seems he hadn't managed to school his expression enough as the greenette instantly took notice and tried to soothe the situation. Fuck... Stop being so nice when you're about to break up with me... All the same, he didn't resist when his hand was taken and he was lead inside, a touch surprised that the same gesture was offered to Kirishima as well. Together he and the redhead sat down on the bed to await their fate.

"P... Poly... Y-you'd want that? When I left you were upset about all this, where did... What the fuck did Icy Hot even say to you to make you do a 180?!" This wasn't what he'd expected and it had come so suddenly from out of left field that he had no idea how to even handle this. Still, he did his best to catch up and reply. "I-I mean, yeah! Yeah, I'd be alright with that, but would you two really be okay with sharing?" Holy shit this wasn't even close to what he'd expected the conversation to be... Well, that did explain why he'd wanted Eijirou to be there too. He looked over at the faux redhead next to him then to see how he felt about the unexpected arrangement. Not everyone was comfortable with a relationship like that, after all, so there was no reason to think he would be all for it.

[cryptidchalupa]

What?

No, really, what?

He felt something akin to numbness when he was lead into the room, despite what was supposed to be a comforting comment he was sure. How was this not a bad talk? He couldn't really wrap his mind around it, and from the sound of it, neither could Katsuki. He felt like his brain was stalling, really harshly. The night had just been... too much in so many ways.

Polyamory was floating around in his skull, on the loose like the DVD player screen saver. By the time it hit a corner, they were both looking at him. The knee jerk reaction in him was to agree, take it in stride and roll with the punches. But right on the coattails of that, before he could even open his mouth was a cold grip of fear that made him feel sick all over again. What if it didn't work out though... and he ended up losing his closest friends because he was selfish and just wanted to--

His hand not caught in Izuku's grip curled in his pant leg, and he hadn't even realized his quirk had activated in his fingers until he actually felt the sharper edges dig into the skin of his thighs. Oops. He'd be a liar if he tried to say his heart didn't leap when Katsuki openly agreed to be shared. He was a little shocked, honestly.... okay a lot shocked. They had some cute cookie cutter romance going on and they were trying to make room for him because he--

Because he had a pitiful breakdown over his own feelings. He had never wanted something more than to work on himself and to be who he knew deep down he could be until he met Katsuki. Without him the whole thought to climbing up that ladder was nothing more than a pipe dream if he didn't have him around to share in the glory of it. But if this was being put on the table just because he let his feelings out and they got a little out of control on him... he wasn't sure he wanted it. Not a pity offer. His jaw clenched, and he was carefully gentle in the way he shook his hand free of the other's grip and let it settle on his other leg instead.

"You don't have to humor me because you feel bad." he managed to get out, tightly, around the urge to start crying again because it wasn't very funny. He was sure even if he gave in, nothing would come out, he had cried too hard earlier. He was probably dehydrated at his point. He was so far in his own head he couldn't even try to rationalize this as not being a joke. How could it be anything else? There's no reason for them to open their otherwise perfectly fine relationship just because he got upset. That's not how the world worked.... right? Right?